• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

How can i write faster in exams? (3 Viewers)

t00l

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
229
Location
Filming my next action blockbuster
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Hey guys. So i realised recently that i write pretty slow in exams for essays etc. Ill be able to write about 2 pages in 45 minutes while the guy next to me is calling for his 5th sheet of paper (i hate when people do that). I think that im not able to construct sentences fast enough in my head or maybe i just plain cant write fast. People share advice and help? thanks :)
 

abhi23

Coming to the Toga Party?
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
366
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Get one of those frictionless pens: uni-ball or similar.
 

SeCKSiiMiNh

i'm a fireball in bed
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
2,618
Location
island of screaming orgasms
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
attach some sort of weight to the pen. i.e. taping some batteries onto your pen so that it's heavier. practice writing as fast as you can with that pen. during the day of exams, use a lighter pen. :D should work lol!
 

Thecorey0

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2008
Messages
428
Location
Goldstein
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
attach some sort of weight to the pen. i.e. taping some batteries onto your pen so that it's heavier. practice writing as fast as you can with that pen. during the day of exams, use a lighter pen. :D should work lol!
This suprisingly works. Using a bulkier pen like a Parker works better though in my opinion. Also the more you do it, the quicker you become. I remember in the same amount of time, i completed 50% more pages in my last exam then first for the HSC.
 

harrisony

goodbye cruel world
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
3,596
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
I use a 0.1mm pen, you can write smaller but still read letter although my handwritings fail so not really :)
 

muzikk93

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
70
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2013
i reckon you should just practice writing faster and faster... cursive writing would surely help.. but make sure u make it clear enough for th reader to understand.
 

fullonoob

fail engrish? unpossible!
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
Messages
465
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
WRITING SPEED:
- write as fast as you can during all lessons
- dont tense your hand when writing, you actually write slower
- glide your hand across the page when writing, try to write as fast as your hand can move across the page :L
- when copying, if possible, look at board and write, without looking at page
- time yourself at LEAST 3 times before you write an essay in class ( unless you already know your writing speed)

BEFORE TEST:
- write out your essay on blank paper numerous times ! on paper!
- read it at least 10x over
- say aloud your essay as you like it
- try to average your writing speed at 1.4 per hour ( i do 1.7 :rolleyes:)
- when writing your essay out, don't stop halfway, finish the whole thing

DURING TEST:
- don't panic, do what you're most likely to forget first
- should've remembered ALL of your essay by then
- people ask for more paper 20-30 mins in to scare people
maybe thats why they want more paper ...it's just to put people off :idea:

ahaha anothher thing is try finish writing the stuff on board before anyone in the class does, try racing against your friend without asking him/her. Just see if you can top the writing speed :O
 

ilikebeeef

Active Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Messages
1,198
Location
Hoboland and Procrastinationland
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
WRITING SPEED:
- write as fast as you can during all lessons
- dont tense your hand when writing, you actually write slower
- glide your hand across the page when writing, try to write as fast as your hand can move across the page :L
- when copying, if possible, look at board and write, without looking at page
- time yourself at LEAST 3 times before you write an essay in class ( unless you already know your writing speed)

BEFORE TEST:
- write out your essay on blank paper numerous times ! on paper!
- read it at least 10x over
- say aloud your essay as you like it
- try to average your writing speed at 1.4 per hour ( i do 1.7 :rolleyes:)
- when writing your essay out, don't stop halfway, finish the whole thing

DURING TEST:
- don't panic, do what you're most likely to forget first
- should've remembered ALL of your essay by then
- people ask for more paper 20-30 mins in to scare people
maybe thats why they want more paper ...it's just to put people off :idea:

ahaha anothher thing is try finish writing the stuff on board before anyone in the class does, try racing against your friend without asking him/her. Just see if you can top the writing speed :O
I like this guide. Although the bit highlighted in bold makes me cringe lol.
 

Kittikhun

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2008
Messages
615
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
attach some sort of weight to the pen. i.e. taping some batteries onto your pen so that it's heavier. practice writing as fast as you can with that pen. during the day of exams, use a lighter pen. :D should work lol!
I used to do this. In fact, my whole grade did this. I attached some batteries to my pen, wrote with it for a couple of weeks and then when I wrote with a normal pen, I was all off balance. I was the last person to use batteries with my pens. From then on, I have never seen a student in year 12 do this. I have found though that writing with a gel pen is faster than writing with normal pens after practising with weighted pens. That's my two cents, but seriously, if you do decide to write with weigihted pens write with weighted pens one day and then write with normal pens the other day or you will be all over the place by exam time.
 

madsam

God among men
Joined
Feb 16, 2008
Messages
250
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Using pen weights is stupid. You're all stupid. If you know what you're going to write, at least semi-plan your essay, and then practise writing essays Hell, copying the same essay until you know it off by heart, 3 or 4 times, will help dramatically as you don't have to concentrate on remembering, merely writing quickly. I print my writing, with moderately sized words, and i was churning out 5-6 A4 pages equivalent for each english essay in HSC (or about 12-13 HSC booklet pages)
 
Last edited:

life92

Member
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
81
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
WRITING SPEED:
- write as fast as you can during all lessons
- dont tense your hand when writing, you actually write slower
- glide your hand across the page when writing, try to write as fast as your hand can move across the page :L
- when copying, if possible, look at board and write, without looking at page
- time yourself at LEAST 3 times before you write an essay in class ( unless you already know your writing speed)

BEFORE TEST:
- write out your essay on blank paper numerous times ! on paper!
- read it at least 10x over
- say aloud your essay as you like it
- try to average your writing speed at 1.4 per hour ( i do 1.7 :rolleyes:)
- when writing your essay out, don't stop halfway, finish the whole thing


DURING TEST:
- don't panic, do what you're most likely to forget first
- should've remembered ALL of your essay by then
- people ask for more paper 20-30 mins in to scare people
maybe thats why they want more paper ...it's just to put people off :idea:

ahaha anothher thing is try finish writing the stuff on board before anyone in the class does, try racing against your friend without asking him/her. Just see if you can top the writing speed :O
I don't really understand what you mean by 'writing speed at 1.4 per hour' ?
But anyway, you should be aiming to have a writing speed of around 180words in 5 mins and that'll be good enough.
The fastest writers in my school could write about 220 in 5 mins, pretty hectic I must say. And you need to be able to maintain that for at least an hour.

Writing the whole essay out is good, but it'd be better to write out the whole essay out say, 2 or 3 times, continuously, one after the other, so it's sortof like conditioning yourself. Increase endurance :). So that when it does come to the exam, you can go all out and surprise yourself at how quickly you can finish your essay.

Find a pen that suits you and glides to your liking. Sometimes having a really smooth pen is good, but not everyone can write well with a smooth pen.

Also, you need to realize that everyone writes different sizes, so some people write really big whilst others write fairly small.
I find that if you write big, to a certain degree, you have momentum (lol) and its easier to go faster, whereas if you write smaller, it sortof restricts the movement of your arm and so you can't write as fast.

But yeah, it really depends on the individual. Some people in my school could write INCREDIBLY fast in print, it was amazing o_o
So you just need to find what suits you and just practise practise practise !

:)
 

fullonoob

fail engrish? unpossible!
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
Messages
465
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
I don't really understand what you mean by 'writing speed at 1.4 per hour' ?
But anyway, you should be aiming to have a writing speed of around 180words in 5 mins and that'll be good enough.
The fastest writers in my school could write about 220 in 5 mins, pretty hectic I must say. And you need to be able to maintain that for at least an hour.

Writing the whole essay out is good, but it'd be better to write out the whole essay out say, 2 or 3 times, continuously, one after the other, so it's sortof like conditioning yourself. Increase endurance :). So that when it does come to the exam, you can go all out and surprise yourself at how quickly you can finish your essay.

Find a pen that suits you and glides to your liking. Sometimes having a really smooth pen is good, but not everyone can write well with a smooth pen.

Also, you need to realize that everyone writes different sizes, so some people write really big whilst others write fairly small.
I find that if you write big, to a certain degree, you have momentum (lol) and its easier to go faster, whereas if you write smaller, it sortof restricts the movement of your arm and so you can't write as fast.

But yeah, it really depends on the individual. Some people in my school could write INCREDIBLY fast in print, it was amazing o_o
So you just need to find what suits you and just practise practise practise !

:)
OMGAR OVERPOWERED. by 1.4 i mean 1.4k words. thats it by bio/eng class bluding too much, gna try max out my writing speed now xD
 

Tofuu

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
319
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
attach some sort of weight to the pen. i.e. taping some batteries onto your pen so that it's heavier. practice writing as fast as you can with that pen. during the day of exams, use a lighter pen. :D should work lol!
attach a small weight, not a big one
try using a heavy pen if you can(waterman, parker etc)
 

super.muppy

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
375
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
WRITING SPEED:
- write as fast as you can during all lessons
- dont tense your hand when writing, you actually write slower
- glide your hand across the page when writing, try to write as fast as your hand can move across the page :L
- when copying, if possible, look at board and write, without looking at page
- time yourself at LEAST 3 times before you write an essay in class ( unless you already know your writing speed)

BEFORE TEST:
- write out your essay on blank paper numerous times ! on paper!
- read it at least 10x over
- say aloud your essay as you like it
- try to average your writing speed at 1.4 per hour ( i do 1.7 :rolleyes:)
- when writing your essay out, don't stop halfway, finish the whole thing

DURING TEST:
- don't panic, do what you're most likely to forget first
- should've remembered ALL of your essay by then
- people ask for more paper 20-30 mins in to scare people
maybe thats why they want more paper ...it's just to put people off :idea:

ahaha anothher thing is try finish writing the stuff on board before anyone in the class does, try racing against your friend without asking him/her. Just see if you can top the writing speed :O
Lets not be boastful now you must remember its a post on how to improve rather than to demoralize normal humans (i.e. me).
Anyways I came up with some of my own ways:

Although cliched, definitely use a bulky pen for normal every purposes and switch to a lighter fine point pen every so often (to get used to it) and finally use it for tests (remember to bring spare ones - even though i never actually find the need to)

Also practice, race against the clock. Set reasonable times or goals to which you try and beat (the adrenaline will get you there) Over time you will improve and remember on the actual day pressure and stress will push you to perform faster.

Planing, the most important stage. Always have an idea of what you are writing (purpose, content, audience etc.) or in the case of pre-written essays always have an understanding for what you have written and try to paint a picture in your head of its content and what you are trying to convey to the marker (this in turn helps in memorizing the essay). Also plan in terms of time limits. Try and set times for each section (preferably accordingly with the marks).

GOOD LUCK !
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 3)

Top